Neighbourhood Studies
New Pak Army Chief: Nawaz Sharif Gambles on Old Criteria

Out of all the names being tossed around as the possible replacement for Gen Ashfaq Kayani, it is the dark horse – Gen Raheel Sharif – who has finally been appointed as the Pakistan Army’s 15th chief. Apparently, Gen Sharif’s name ....

Western Discourse on Pak Nukes Exposes ‘Double Standards’ Vis-a-Vis India

It certainly cannot be the cooler days in Delhi that has attracted, in recent weeks, so many concerned western ‘experts’ to the capital, to discuss the abstruse-to the Indian public-subject of “strategic stability” in Asia/ in the sub-contine....

Launch of the book Tibet: Perspective and Prospects

Tibet: Perspectives and Prospects, a publication of Vivekananda International Foundation, was launched on 6th November 2013, by His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje. Shri Ajit Doval KC, Dir....

Indian Foreign Policy Being Undermined from Within

The political controversy generated over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s participation in the Commonwealth Summit (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka on November 15 deepens mounting concerns about our foreign policy being increasingly determined not by our overal....

Pakistan: When Enemy No. 1 Becomes Martyr No.1, The War is Lost

What is to be made of a society, people and country whose political leadership erupts in anger and weaves bizarre conspiracy theories because its self-declared ‘enemy no. 1’ is eliminated in a drone attack by a country which has not only accorded....

Balochistan- The New Regional Tinderbox?

On 25 October 2013, the Iranian State News Agency reported that fourteen Iranian border guards were killed and five wounded in clashes with “armed bandits” near Saravan on Iran’s southeastern border with Pakistan. There were also reports of thr....

The Kashmir Dispute—the Faultlines

In the dynamics of history and the variables which govern the course of political sociology, historians do not make history. They only record its course and describe the forces and narrate the events, which are a reality that the historians cannot di....

Afghanistan Is Far from Being Lost: A Situation Report From The Ground

First Impressions: Uncertainty, yes; but also Optimism about future The creeping sense of despondency, even defeatism, over the future of Afghanistan post 2014 that seems to have set in among a section of the strategic community and top pol....

Economic Impact of ‘People’s War’ in Nepal: A Study

1.0 Background The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) started 'People's War' in Nepal in 1996 with the twin objective of abolishing monarchy and establishing a communist republic. During this conflict, the nation bleeded and suffered heavy ....

Round Table Discussion on Afghanistan

VIF organized a round table discussion focusing on Afghanistan on 11th October 2013. Participants in the discussion included Mr. Ajit Doval, KC, Director VIF, Gen. (retd) N. C. Vij, Lt. Gen. (retd) Ravi Sawhney, Amb G. Parthasarathy, Amb S....

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